A new preview of the premiere episode of Game of Thrones Season 4 has been discovered. In this thirty second look at Two Swords we see Daenerys and her army marching towards Meereen, Jaime Lannister trying to find his new place in King’s Landing, the Wildlings advancing their lines, Oberyn Martell getting handy with a blade, and more.

Even though I’ve read the books, at this point I’m just not going to bother watching anymore of the preview stuff. I can’t help myself when the show is still weeks and months away, but now that it’s nearly here, I’d rather hold off and keep the viewing experience moving forward as fresh as possible.

He’s just comparing his arrival to how it happens in the books. It is safe to say the whole Wall storyline will be changed quite a bit. Jon won’t be arrested and placed in an Ice Cell. He likely won’t be sent to kill Mance(Though I’m still holding out hope that he will). And episode 9 will play out almost exactly like ‘Blackwater’, with Stannis arriving at the end to save the day, just like Tywin did.

Regarding this preview: VISERION VS. RHAEGAL? OH MY?! Remember last year when everyone was concerned with the dragon’s being too big too soon? Pfahah. Oberyn is my favorite character and Pedro looks to be THE Oberyn. After all the hate he received. Amazing.
This next bit is so off topic but I don’t care. I’ve been on my one episode a day marathon and got to the Karstark episode a couple days ago and this has been on my mind.
I have had one gripe with the television show. Only one. And I’m curious if anyone else wished they had this scene: When the Karstsrks abandon Robb. Haven’t read Storm of Swords in a couple years but I built up this visual in my head of men on horses angrily riding out of Riverrun whole Catelyn looks down out of her tower in horror. They knock down Stark banners and maybe some violence, just enough to show these houses have separated. Instead it happens off screen and I feel it would have added to the dread of Robb’s downfall.
Did anyone else wish this was included in the show? I realize it is inconsequential but just for visual and emotional purposes.

Regarding the dragons, will this season be the first season where the dragons grow between episodes?
In that last shot of Drogon near Dany, Drogon is no where as big as in the shot with the goat herder.

It’s not, but I’m concerned it may happen with Jon still on the other side of the Wall. I just want the episode to be different from ‘Blackwater’ and I’d like them to keep Jon being sent to kill Mance in the show.

Drogon did seem smaller in certain shots in episode 4, but I thought that in episode 7 he looked just as big as in the first episode (since in both episodes Dany pets him, so it’s easier to compare his size)

No?Both are already at the Wall prior to the Wilding invasion.It seems like they do only interact with Jon after the fighting is well under way, but it’s like only one or two POV’s later.

I suggest you go back and re-read.

There are two Wildlings invasion attempts. First attempt is defeated by Jon and his henchmen. Second, much larger one led by Mance himself, is stalled at the Wall thanx to Jon. It is at this point Janos and Thorne appears in the book. They arrest Jon for treason and then send him to parley/assasinate with Mance. It is during the meeting between Jon and Mance that Stannis force appears to completely defeat Wildings,

Why has there been so much attention given to he size of the dragons?! The Inn scene is happening in the first episode!? that either means the Hound is dying early or the showrunners have found another way to kill him

Batmahon:Why has there been so much attention given to he size of the dragons?! The Inn scene is happening in the first episode!? that either means the Hound is dying early or the showrunners have found another way to kill him

It just means that they’ve found a way to not-kill him in the inn scene, so they could not-kill him differently in another fight later on. :)

I do hope that the showrunners make the Hound’s “death” somewhat mysterious and indeterminate this season. He needs to come back and save Sansa again and kill his “Strong” brother in TWoW/S6 dammit! :)

Stannis doesn’t know about Bran. Jon may think Bran is as good as dead too. It’s hard to tell where the show will go or what scenes they will include. But I would be surprised if they cut Stannis offering to legitimize Jon.

I think he knew that Craster was killing his sons and may have had some inkling that Craster was doing it for a sacrificial purpose, but he didn’t think/believe the White Walkers were actually collecting the kids (since everyone thought they hadn’t been around for centuries).

That changes alot when Stannis makes that Lord of Winterfell offer to Jon.

I have a feeling that the producers will drop Stannis offer, just like they omitted Rob’s Will making Jon the heir to King In The North When it comes to Jon, producers are paranoid about revealing anything about his past or his future.

I am currently re-reading a SoS and agree that this scene was a dramatic illustration of Robb’s downfall from Catelyn’s voyeuristic point of view from the tower. The deserters in the scene were actually Freys who had just learned of Robb’s marriage to Jeyne and subsequent betrayal of Lord Walder. The adaptation to television did not allow the scene to fit into the plot, though it could have easily been rewritten to feature Karstarks instead of Freys. However, horses.

One pattern I have noticed about the adaptation is writing around horses! There are so many great scenes that have been eliminated or changed simply to avoid the challenge of filming with horses. Arya’s attempted escape from the Brotherhood, Ned’s fight with Jaime in King’s Landing, Dany leaping the fire with her silver at her wedding…Also rain. I felt like there should have been so much more rain last season! The middle portion of SoS is nothing but rain. Not much fun to film in, though.

Horses are not only expensive and dangerous from a liability standpoint, but they are time consuming to set and reset and screw with the continuity. As for the rain: I remember reading an interview about the filming of last season and they (might have been GRRM himself) said that they were counting on Belfast’s rainy climate, but then Belfast was unusually sunny that year. Oh well…
That scene would have been dramatic if they could have fit it in. A great visual in the books. But, alas, not essential.

This may be a bit off topic, but where are the reviews for this season?!

If I remember correctly, a lot of the TV critics get screeners for the first few episodes of the season. Just wondering if that’s still happening, and if so, where are the reviews? It’s only 4 more days!

OKENO:
This may be a bit off topic, but where are the reviews for this season?!

If I remember correctly, a lot of the TV critics get screeners for the first few episodes of the season. Just wondering if that’s still happening, and if so, where are the reviews? It’s only 4 more days!

Most TV critics received the first three episodes of Season 4 in advance. The reviews are likely written and under an embargo until later in the week, either from HBO or from the individual publications. Nevertheless, a few reviews have started to appear – all of them extremely positive. Here are a couple of good ones that I’ve found from critics that I read regularly.

keep growing unless confined to a space, which makes no scientific sense

In our world, I thought that one could restrict the growth of an animal by confining it. I think that is possible but maybe not to the degree that GRRM implies in the books….Magically speaking, Dragons are creatures of light (sun, star, fire…don’t know what GRRM’s lore says), but if one were to keep them confined without room to spread their wings and exercise AND without access to enough light, maybe that restricts their growth? Plus, if they’re confined there’s no in between meal snacks like sheep herders and such. Extra meat makes a dragon body good. ;)

In this Kit interview when he’s talking about what Jon wants to do versus what he must do, it reminds me of a quote from The Wheel of Time series, “Duty is heaver than a mountain.” It’s a nice contrast to what Robb did with Talisa (Jeyne in the books). He wanted her so he married her in spite of what his duty was, which was to marry a Frey girl and cement his Northern allegiances. So far, Jon has held his honor more dear than his own happiness–very much like Ned. Let’s hope it’s not to the degree that Ned did, else Jon will end up losing his head too.

Love the way the Viper lifts Tyrion’s head with a finger under his chin, like he was a little kid

Yeah, I noticed that. A person only does that if the relationship is one where the two people are very familiar with one another OR one person is being bold and condescending to the other. I think in this case it is the latter. I think we are going to see Oberyn be very dismissive of Tyrion initially but over the season see him come to admire Tyrion (at least to the degree that he trusts him as a beneficial short term ally).